How a shared understanding of the Amazon’s strategic importance goes beyond climate and water balance in South America to include global food supply chains.
Por Alexandre Mansur*
Last month, I traveled to China with a group of Brazilian organizations. Our agenda — still ongoing — was focused on food security for both countries. We explored how food security is directly connected to forest conservation, particularly the Amazon, which plays a crucial role in maintaining planetary climate stability and produces most of the rainfall that irrigates the continent. These rains sustain Brazil’s agricultural production — both for domestic consumption and export.
Our group had a packed schedule — with plenty of green tea — filled with high-level technical meetings. We found a remarkable alignment of vision with our Chinese counterparts when it comes to sustainability, quality of life, and development. We engaged in meaningful exchanges with government-supported Chinese organizations, international agencies, and academic institutions. In each of these arenas, we shared a mutual understanding of the role Brazil and China can play together to secure sustainable meat production and the development of export infrastructure that protects forests.
I was part of a mission composed entirely of Brazilian organizations dedicated to environmental protection and sustainable development. The delegation was in Beijing from June 16 to 20, and was organized by the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM) and the philanthropic organization Instituto Clima e Sociedade (iCS), with participation from Imazon, Plataforma CIPÓ, Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV), and O Mundo Que Queremos. The mission was led by IPAM Executive Director André Guimarães, who also serves as Special Envoy from the Brazilian Presidency for Civil Society at COP30.
Much of our dialogue was built upon shared understanding. That was captured in an article I co-wrote with the team at O Mundo Que Queremos, which was well received by our Chinese counterparts. In the article, we demonstrated how the climate stability ensured by the Amazon is essential to maintain Brazil’s status as an agricultural powerhouse — and how this directly impacts China’s food security.
The piece highlights the strategic relationship between the two countries, based on commercial interdependence, especially in meat and soybean exports, but also in infrastructure investments and bilateral agreements. We raised concerns that continued deforestation threatens agricultural production. The destruction of the forest disrupts so-called “flying rivers” — atmospheric moisture flows that provide rainfall to Brazil’s major agricultural zones. Studies show that if this climate imbalance continues, over half of Brazil’s farming areas could fall outside the ideal cultivation zone by 2030, jeopardizing both productivity and global food supply.
We also emphasized that cattle ranching remains the leading driver of deforestation, often with extremely low productivity. Yet it’s possible to double beef output using already deforested areas with more efficient practices. Meatpackers exporting to China still do not demonstrate full control and transparency over their supply chains, posing environmental risks. The Radar Verde, the indicator that evaluates deforestation free control in Brazilian meat companies, can serve as a guiding tool for importers when shaping supplier selection policies.
We also addressed how Brazil plans and executes infrastructure projects to transport commodities — often without properly accounting for social and environmental risks. We advocated for safer and more sustainable logistics routes that avoid ecologically sensitive regions.
This exchange of knowledge resonated deeply in China — and that has everything to do with the country’s own history. Since its earliest days, Chinese civilization was shaped by the need to understand and control water cycles. The founding of the Chinese state is tied to the legendary figure of Yu the Great, who unified the nation over 4,000 years ago by mastering flood control techniques along the Yellow River. This foundational story reflects an ancient wisdom: environmental stability is the foundation of prosperity and social cohesion.
China has long organized itself around careful management of rivers, floods, and fertile plains — recognizing early on that without climate balance, there is no agriculture; without agriculture, no food security; and without food security, no social peace or development. This deep awareness — that a nation’s fate is intimately tied to nature’s cycles — remains very much alive.
In a country that continues to face devastating droughts, catastrophic floods, and critical water shortages, the protection of rivers, springs, and forests goes beyond environmentalism: it is a matter of national security. This ancient vision of interdependence between society and ecosystems helps explain why China acknowledges the strategic importance of the Amazon — not just for South America’s climate and hydrological balance, but also for global food stability.
Today, China has entered a new phase of environmental vision. Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, the country has adopted the goal of building an “ecological civilization” — a concept now embedded in public policy, diplomacy, and even the Constitution. Xi declared that “green mountains and clear waters are as valuable as gold and silver,” affirming that development is only legitimate if it is sustainable.
This strategic orientation has global implications: it positions China as a key player in the ecological transition and opens the door to collaboration with countries like Brazil — home to critical environmental assets such as the Amazon rainforest.
*Este artigo foi originalmente publicado em português na coluna de Alexandre Mansur em Um Só Planeta (https://umsoplaneta.globo.
Foto: Divulgação – Bella Terra
